Agreed.
I really enjoyed Cyberpunk 2077. I look forward to putting probably a couple hundred more hours into the game once the expansion(s) drop. But my main problem with the game was that the main storyline felt purposefully shortened... like it was choppy and missing intended parts. It was still a solid story, but I wish it was longer and had more structure. If they were going to go the route of Silverhand being in your head it feels like something that if the main quest line was about 50 hours long... the Silverhand incident should have happened around hour 30-35, not hour 5-10. This would have given them more time to build up the legend of Silverhand in the world, while also making the rest of the game feel like a mad scramble rather than a mix of you doing merc stuff to build your rep and also trying to solve this thing in your head trying to kill you.
I have no evidence for it, though I am sure other people have looked into it... but I'd imagine when they got Keanu to sign on they made significant changes to the story and progression as well. Because to me part of the game seems like you are just supposed to be a merc working your way up to something greater... then other parts of it are this rushed madness due to the Silverhand storyline.
To me it seems like Silverhand was originally meant to just be a character you encounter in the game. But when they got such a big name they kind of forced him into a bigger role and modified the story.
yeah there were many talks about it after the release - I also remember a lot of these discussions. many believe Keanus cast had a big influence on the storytelling. talks like he (Silverhand the character itself) hadn't that much attention in early on promotion/trailer, or the replacement from the quad v-tec by his own bike brand arch as Jackys drive. other ones thought Jackys screentime was just transformed over to silverhands seeing a coop mission with jacky but than realizing he nearly died instantly in the final game. others again said silverhand in cp lore (novels/tabletop) is just one of many characters and the focus in cp77 just doesn't fit. I personally think he had an influence in different parts of the progress as well maybe not hard but for sure in some points.
"wake up samurai - we have a city to burn" - story clearly was rewritten, no-one knows how strong tho...